The County will rehire a consulting firm that has been overseeing the clean up of the long closed Los Osos Landfill, awarding a 3-year contract that could double.
SCS Field Services, Inc., got the $305,727 contract, which will pay $101,909 per year, to operate and maintain the old dump’s “landfill gas collection system.”
Installed in 1998 in response to a 1995 order from the Regional Water Quality Control Board to clean up emissions of “volatile organic compounds” (VOC) at the landfill, the gas collection system consists of a flare station, 20 gas extraction wells, site collection piping, six monitoring ports, and three gas monitoring probes, according to a report.
The system is over 20-years old but still meets performance requirements, according to the County. VOCs are caused by natural decomposition of the buried trash and seep out of the ground.
The system operates under a “Post Closure Maintenance Plan and Monitoring and Reporting Plan,” filed with the water board.
The County has used contractors to operate the system from the start and SCS Field Services had a 5-year contract that expired Feb. 29. Public Works has been running the system since then. Last November the County went out for bids and SCS was selected by a ranking committee process that looks at qualifications over price.
Also, the County director of Public Works will have the option to extend the contract for another three years without Supervisors’ approval.
The company will get additional work in May when a groundwater treatment plant for the landfill, under construction now, will be completed and go on line.
SCS will operate, monitor and maintain that treatment system. The County’s bidding process included the additional work. Those additional costs would be covered in a contract amendment still to come.
